American Samoa

September 12, 2010 | By Catherine Watson, Special to the Los Angeles Times

THE BEST WAY TO SAMOA From LAX, Air New Zealand offers connecting service (change of planes) to Apia, Samoa. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $868. TELEPHONES To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (international dialing code), 68 (the country code) and the local number. GETTING AROUND Independent Samoa's public bus system relies on old school buses. They'll get you anywhere for a couple of tala, but schedules are flexible. Catch them at the open-air depot by the harbor in Apia or flag them down on the roads.

Scientists surveying American Samoa's coral reefs say the Sept. 29 tsunami obliterated some corals and damaged others to the point that they might not recover. Researchers say more assessments will be needed to get a full sense of how the disaster affected coral in the U.S. territory. But in at least one area, the damage was so severe and the affected area already in such bad shape before the tsunamis, that the coral may never return. A team led by Douglas Fenner, a coral reef monitoring ecologist with American Samoa's Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, has surveyed about 20 sites around the territory.

Convoys of military vehicles brought food, water and medicine to the tsunami-stricken Samoa Islands on Thursday as victims wandered through what was left of their villages with tales of being trapped underwater, watching young children drown and hoisting elderly parents above the waves. The death toll rose to 160 as grim-faced islanders gathered under a traditional meetinghouse to hear a Samoan government minister discuss a plan for a mass funeral and burial next week. Samoans traditionally bury their loved ones near their homes, but that could be impractical because many villages have been wiped out. The dead from Tuesday's earthquake and tsunami include 120 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga.

The death toll in Samoa and American Samoa rose to 99 early today, according to news reports, after a powerful tsunami triggered by a deep ocean earthquake devastated coastal towns. Dozens of people were still missing. Seventeen hours after the magnitude 8.0 temblor struck, another massive ocean earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island early today killed at least 75 people and trapping thousands under rubble. A tsunami warning was issued in the region but was later lifted.

The Stockton Unified School District has decided to lay off a district athletics administrator who was suspended over a probe into his possible involvement in a high school football recruiting scandal. The district's board of trustees voted 7 to 0 to lay off Joe Martin, 52, along with four teachers after their positions were eliminated because of budget cuts, said district spokesman Rick Brewer. Martin was suspended with pay Nov. 1 in the aftermath of the scandal at Franklin High School, which was accused of illegally recruiting players from American Samoa.

King Malietoa Tanumafili II, one of the world's longest-reigning monarchs, has died, the prime minister's office announced. He was 94. Malietoa died Friday night at Tupua Tamasese National Hospital in the Samoan capital of Apia, where he had been staying for about a week. The cause of death was not immediately available. The king succeeded to the Malietoa title in 1940, when his father died.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced plans to rebuild its temple in Apia, Samoa, after it was destroyed in a July 9 fire. No one was injured in the blaze in the 14,000-square-foot structure, the first in the religious body's history to be destroyed by fire. Dedicated in 1983, the temple had been undergoing renovation and expansion. Church officials predict it will take about six months to design a new temple and about 18 to 24 months to construct it.

More than 8 tons of mail bound for American Samoa are stuck in Hawaii, and more is piling up as the U.S. territory's only airport cleans rocks and gravel left after recent storms from its main runway. Hawaiian Airlines, which usually carries the mail to American Samoa, suspended its weekly service to Pago Pago International Airport June 24 after two of its aircraft were damaged by the loose debris on the runway. Torrential rains in the last several weeks caused the poor runway conditions.